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It was April, 2002, when a tentative and occasional home cook saw baby artichokes in the grocery store for the first time. She bought a package of them and brought them home. Because she was a little nervous by nature and was working long hours, she kept putting off trying to solve the mystery of how to cook them. They went bad in the refrigerator before she opened the package. Fun
It's been a wild ride of a week in terms of the weather. Friday it was 75 degrees – Saturday it snowed. Currently hanging out on my dresser is a cute little floral dress, right next to a pair of long underwear. I'm ready for anything! When the cold snap hit, I decided to make this cheddar broccoli rabe soup. Even with the weather in flux, sooner rather than later it's going to be h
Have you ever been down for no particular reason? For instance, you go to bed feeling happy, cheerful and sleepy and then you wake up, feeling like a blight on humanity. Yeah, that didn't happen to me the other day at all. But, for the purposes of this exercise let's say that I have felt like that, and I've found that the best cure is a Parks and Recreation marathon. When on
Two weeks ago, Jedd and I packed our bags and headed to Maine for two nights and one glorious day of hanging out on the beach. Sure, early April isn't the warmest time to play near the ocean – but we were lucky enough to have the sun shining and temperatures that were in the upper 50s. In other words, it was perfect. Because it was in the off-season, it was just us and the people
Spring is in the air. I can say that with authority because when I walked around town doing errands today, I kept running into friends and acquaintances who all said, “Spring is in the air!” See, I told you I was authoritative. Street chats aside, the other reason I know that we're heading into spring is because the grocery stores are filled with amazing vegetables. Vegetables that ar
A few weeks ago Jedd and I went out to dinner, which is a rarity for us. I write about food for paychecks, so I cook several times a day. Although what we have in the fridge by the end of the day may not make sense as a full meal, it's generally what we stick with. “What's for dinner?” “Well, we have fish picatta, cranberry maple granola and fresh barbecue sauce.” “Sounds good.
As we've established on these pages, I'm a cheap date. I don't need flowers or chocolate to make my day. But I am a sucker for a new ingredient. So, when Jedd brought me home an ugli fruit the other day I couldn't wait to use it. In case you've never heard of these guys before (and I hadn't) they're a grapefruit, nectarine and orange hybrid. I generally mock the term “twofer,” but this i
Last week I was talking with my mother when she asked if I had ever eaten frozen grapes. I told her that I hadn't, and in fact I'd never even heard of them. She made them sound appetizing as a sweet snack or as a “grape cube” in a drink. So, when I went to the grocery store yesterday I decided to pick up a batch that were on sale. When I reached for the bag, I had a conversation from a bo
We don't watch sports. In fact, the only time we know which sports season it is happens when our friend, Steve, changes his phone availability from baseball to football season. “Hey, I was working on our project, and I have a question about that thing I'm writing for you.” “Nope, I can't talk now. The Lions are on.” “Oh, is it that season already?” So, considering our lack
I'm not an expert on Philly cheese steaks. In fact, I've never even been to Philadelphia. But, I have been drunk and had the munchies. And there was a great place that used to be open late (post bar hours) where I'd go and get Philly chicken cheese sandwiches after pitchers of beer and hours of pinball. We don't stay out until 2 a.m. (much) anymore, and it's damn hard to find a goo
Traditionally peppers are stuffed with hamburger, rice and tomato sauce. But, when working with spicy little poblanos, why not mirror their taste with a fresh smoky salsa along with bright yellow peppers? The answer is: Yes. Yes, you should do that. And you should throw some sharp cheddar in the mix as well. These peppers were so delicious that I had a hard time fighting the urge to
For the last week our living room window has been a derivation on this theme. Whether it's been snow or frost, we've been lucky if our view has been translucent at best. And when it's this cold outside I like to get something on the stove to warm us up a little. It's good if it smells spicy too. So, to that end I've made this batch of super spicy barbecue sauce from homemade ketchup twice thi
It's amazing how with just a few ingredients you can make a fantastic salad. Usually I load salads up “Jedd Style,” with tons of vegetables and some quickly sauteed seeds. But looking around the kitchen for a quick lunch today, I spotted an orange and a red pepper in the hanging basket. And I had a few strands of onion sliced in the fridge that were begging to be used. So, in less than 3 min
Apparently we were very good this year, because Keith the Elf* and Santa left us a beautiful food processor, bunches of new dishes, a ton of dried chilies and grapefruit spoons! But this post is about the dried chipotle and adobo chilies, because they have been the base for my newest favorite meal. How favorite, you might ask? I've made it 4 out of the last 6 nights. It's that good. And th
They're great on a pizza, a sandwich or just as a snack. But, sun dried tomatoes aren't cheap, and for $1.99 you can make them yourself. Not only will you have the satisfaction of saving a few dollars – but you get to have the simple childlike joy of performing a Mr. Wizard-like experiment in your own kitchen.
Launie and I are real suckers for a pretty ingredient. Especially if it's one that we've never cooked with before. Launie's been known to squeal a little when she finds one. It's kind of endearing - and delicious, because she carries that enthusiasm all the way from the vegetable bin to the kitchen to the plate. Our introduction to the many-monikered cranberry bean was no exception.
Homefries. We all know what they should taste like – but why are the results so typically disappointing? One of my least favorite things in a diner is typically the homefries. They are usually greasy and cold in the middle, but being an optimist by nature I usually try them in new places. Hey you never know, right?
Last Night I heard some dreaded words come out of Jedd's mouth: “Ugh. I think I'm getting sick.” No, no, no. He works with big sharp tools for his woodworking, and I suddenly had visions of him impaling himself with a chisel after a particularly violent sneeze. Or nearly as bad, Jedd having to miss a show that a friend of his is playing in Winooski. There's something kind of
The secret arrow in my holiday quiver is this cheddar cheese ball. It's simple to make, is incredibly addictive and can even make uneven gift giving seem on par. It's kind of magical that way. For instance, my cousin gave us a DVD player (with Wi-Fi!) as an early Christmas present. I was stunned by the gift, and giddy as a schoolgirl. But, I wasn't prepared for a gift exchange the nigh
(Editors' Note: Planning a full Thanksgiving menu can be a formidable challenge. Picking just the right wines to serve with that feast can be equally challenging - especially if you don't want to break the bank. So, to help make your Thanksgiving dinner a success, we've joined forces with our friend and wine-pairing guru, Colleen Brosnan, to take some of the pressure off of you. Colleen - wh
Gas masks, protective goggles and amazing food. Those ideas seem incongruous. Or so I thought years ago, before I met Launie and before I heard the details of her family's tradition of making horseradish from scratch. The first time Launie told me stories about members of her family donning gas masks to protect themselves from the intense fumes of the horseradish-preparation process, I wa
I'm not a big fan of sweets other than fruit, and I'm also not a huge blue cheese fan. But, the combination of sugar-coated almonds and blue cheese in this salad elevates both ingredients. It's ridiculously good. Ridiculously. Good. I've been trying to really get into blue cheese for over a decade. Sometimes I enjoy it in a dish, and other times its power overwhelms the things i
I'm going to divulge a deep and dirty secret about being a food blogger. We live and die by daylight. Artificial overhead light ruins the look of food and the right light is tricky. So, when the fall/winter light disappears by 3 p.m. in our north-facing apartment, it's difficult to take photos. Although, I do foolish things to still keep shooting. I've taken photos in the dark with the ca
We are flush with vegetables and gourds from our winter CSA. And one of my favorite things in the world was prevalent this week – tomatillos. So, I whipped us up a batch of tomatillo salsa, and that was dinner one night with nachos. Then when the winter turned colder almost immediately (Hey, Hurricane Sandy, hey!) and we still - thankfully - had power, I realized that what we needed to
Poor Demeter. Her daughter, Persephone, was taken by Hades and carried away to the underworld. Demeter was the goddess of agriculture and the earth withered as crops dried up because Demeter was only concerned with finding her daughter. The cries of the hungry forced Zeus to get involved, and he ordered Hades to release Persephone from the underworld and return her to her mother. But, the
(Nobody was sitting, everyone wanted to stand in line for an autograph!) There are a lot of food “personalities” that we love, but only one has ever gotten us out of the apartment (and kitchen) to drive the length of the state on a rainy day. Only Lynne Rosetta Kasper from the Splendid Table inspires this kind of dedication in us. I love the Splendid Table podcasts and hav
Oh, the lovely things we find at the farmers market. Jedd was afraid that this past week might be the last because of the weather. (It snowed on Friday. Yikes!) So he came home arms a-bursting with a big, beautiful bunch of summer savory, apples, onions, parsley, cilantro, tomatillos, peppers and 2 pints of plum tomatoes. And as thrilled as I was with all of it, I looked at the savory and
In our last CSA basket for the season (sad sniffle) we had some beautiful delicata squash. And I wanted to celebrate them with a hearty stuffing that was as pretty as they were. I decided that couscous would be a natural with the squash, but instead of cooking it in chicken broth I thought it might be fun to go another way. In this case, a sweet and spicy vegan stuffing sounded perf
I really believe that parsley is an under-utilized ingredient. I love the stuff. One of my odd little dating/dining embarrassments would be the fact that I wouldn't eat the parsley on my plate when I was out with a guy. I was concerned that my parsley love might be considered a little strange. So, I would just hope that he would have to run to the bathroom so that I could eat that gorge
Jedd and I have been married for almost 17 years and he's never asked me to make anything for dinner. We come up with ideas together, or I come up with ideas, but he's never said: “Hey, I would love chicken tonight.” And last week he came home with a bag of beautiful local apples from an orchard that we've been using very sparingly, because they're such a treat. Then on his way out
Oh, pretty cabbage. You intrigue me with your purple, white and green leaves, and when I cover you in vinaigrette, oh, how your pieces gleam. You're peppery and hearty, and you make my brain all smarty. But in this spicy salad your crunch reigns supreme. When I woke up this morning, if you had asked me if I was going to write a little ode to cabbage I probably wouldn't have belie
When Jedd gave me a new coffee grinder for Christmas last year I was confused. I’m more of a “drink Earl Gray until I twitch” kind of hot beverage lover. But when he told me that it was to play around with to make my own homemade spice blends, I was thrilled. And berbere was one of the first things I played with. Berbere is a traditional African spice that is spicy but complex. It won’t necessa
I've said it before and I'll say it again, there's nothing better than fresh greens in summer. There's not a thing that compares to seeing those huge, leafy bouquets come in our CSA basket – and soon they will be out of season. So, to go out with a bang instead of a whimper, I decided to make a pie that celebrates these beautiful flavors along with a rainbow of peppers and two cheeses.
There are some things that you can only make once or twice a year because of availability or cost. In this case, homemade tomato juice fills both those slots. It takes a LOT of tomatoes to make, so it would be cost-prohibitive to make any other season. Also, the tomatoes need to be really ripe to the point of being almost over ripe, so the end of summer crop is perfect for this amazing jui
Because I'm not (much) of a masochist, I don't make homemade pasta very often in our small kitchen. Like I was telling my cousin the other night, the last time I undertook that endeavor I ended up with flour on the front of my shirt, in my hair and somehow all over the back of my shirt too. Seriously. The back of my shirt. How does that even work? So, needless to say when I want ravio
Summer's bounty of vegetables is a wonderful thing – but just like the saying goes – there can be too much of a good thing. But my motto is: When drowning in vegetables make a beautiful tart with them. Earlier this week Jedd called me on his way home from his father's. “Dad gave us a lot of tomatoes.” “Sweet. We can't have too many tomatoes.” He laughed. “Yeah. You might c
What happens when you stop loving broccoli? You bribe yourself into falling back in love with it. A very strange thing happened to me last year. I made my favorite meal of roasted broccoli, and I didn't enjoy it. That was bizarre, because broccoli has been one of my favorite vegetables since I was a kid. At the time I thought maybe I had undergone a taste bud shift. But when we received a big
When I first came up with the idea for this salad I was trying to figure out a way to use up some gorgeous green beans that we got from our CSA as well as some beautiful sweet peppers that we got at the farmers market. And instead of using pasta or couscous I thought that barley would make a great base for the salad. Barley is one of those little nutritional powerhouses that's a
Sometimes a recipe is so simple that it invents itself. In the case of this lemony and surprisingly spicy blueberry salsa, inspiration came with our CSA basket. We received a beautiful box of blueberries and because I had just made flour tortillas and was craving something with a little kick, it just made sense to use the berries in a salsa. I was a little hesitant at first though, because I
It's elegant for brunch, it's simple for lunch – and sometimes it can help a couple of sick people. I spent Friday on the couch with a sinus headache that was so rough that it mimicked a migraine. Then I spent Saturday and Sunday working. But KABLAM! On Monday I was knocked on my back again and then, sadly, Jedd joined me there on Tuesday. We were a couple of sick people. Because I
The lovely thing about Indian food is that it comes in a range of spicy levels. It can have heat, but it doesn't need to leave your taste buds squealing in pain. And this curry dish is mild but incredibly delicious. it's flavorful, beautiful, light and elegant with a simple homemade curry paste. And in this case, with the combination of both light and dark meat it will feed all the chicke
Politics, religion, same-sex marriage, breast feeding, health care, sometimes it seems that there's nothing that American's don't vehemently fight about. But, just like you shouldn't bring up your hatred of Chuck Norris around your NRA-loving uncle at Thanksgiving – it's also not a great idea to walk into a party and loudly exclaim your love of cilantro. For such a small herb, it's a huge
Politics, religion, same-sex marriage, breast feeding, health care, sometimes it seems that there's nothing that American's don't vehemently fight about. But, just like you shouldn't bring up your hatred of Chuck Norris around your NRA-loving uncle at Thanksgiving – it's also not a great idea to walk into a party and loudly exclaim your love of cilantro. For such a small herb, it's
Broccoli was once one of our favorite vegetables, but for some reason it's faded into the background in recent years. We just haven't been making it, eating it or craving it. At a recent farmers market, though, I saw a gorgeous head of broccoli practically glowing with angelic light. The craving was back. At first I didn't have any particular use in mind for it. A stir fry? Just steam
Is there anything better than a basket that's overflowing with your favorite fruits and vegetables? It's a sight like the one that greeted me yesterday that makes me sad for "Winter Launie and Jedd," who have to make do with mostly wimpy grocery-store greens and flavorless little tomatoes. "Summer Launie and Jedd" on the other hand are enjoying the sights, smells and tastes of farm-fresh foo
Grilled chicken cafreal – a spicy Goan dish with chilies, cumin and ginger - is a change of pace from the usual summertime fare. It's also a great way to use the abundant gifts available from your farmer's market or CSA. It's mid-July and what's left to grill? In New England we've been having such a hot stretch that I can't comprehend turning on the oven – so pretty much everything on ou
They're a staple at brunch and perfect on a lazy Sunday afternoon while watching movies. There is much more to the humble Bloody Mary, though. Even though they contain vodka – have you ever thought about how amazingly nutritious Bloody Marys are? The main ingredients: tomatoes, Tabasco hot sauce, celery and horseradish are filled with antioxidants and other traditional “add ins” like gree
Recently I ran across an article on Filipino cooking where they talked about lumpia, the egg roll of the Philippines. The article talked about how Filipino cooking is dually inspired by both Spanish and Chinese cuisine, so Lumpia has the Spanish influence of garlic and onions but they are packaged in a roll. Of course the small flaw in the plan of cooking lumpia is the fact that – b
After a morning of too much coffee and a scattered list of unrelated tasks and errands finished, my mind was jittery, numb and disconnected as I splashed to the end of the dirt road that brings you to Stone Hollow Farm in Enosburgh. I was picking up our first CSA box of the season.I had met Ken Carter and Melissa Dion years ago as a reporter covering farming issues in Franklin County, but bef
A few weeks ago I saw an intriguing thing on Twitter. Muir Glen tomatoes asked food bloggers to contact them. So I did. And they offered me a chance to receive a free gift basket of their 2011 Limited-Edition Reserve Tomatoes. Now normally I eschew promoting products – in fact this is the first time that I've done it. But, I agreed because we love Muir Glen tomatoes. I mean, we really love
